Category Archives: Labour

General T&T, International, Labour, USA

Joe Young: last man standing

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By Raffique Shah
October 07, 2012

Raffique ShahLAST Tuesday, one of this country’s great labour leaders and patriots, Joe Young, made his exit from life. Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, as this gentle giant was hurried to some morgue, unmarked and indistinguishable from others. Not that he would have wanted otherwise. It was his final interaction with the ordinary man with whom he lived and mingled freely, for whom he fought many a battle. At age 80, Joe must have endured more than he could in this cussed country that he so loved. He was ready to join his ancestors, to re-link with old comrades.
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Business, Crime in T&T, Finance, General T&T, Labour, Law, Media, Parliament, People's Partnership, Politics, Security

$58B Budget, TT’s Largest Ever

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Finance and Economy Minister Larry Howai
Finance and Economy Minister Larry Howai

By Clint Chan Tack
October 02, 2012 – newsday.co.tt

Finance Minister Larry Howai on the front page of NewsdayPEOPLE who drive vehicles fueled by premium gasolene will pay higher prices at the pump from today. A wide range of hefty tax increases was imposed on the local gaming industry as of yesterday and land and building taxes will return.

However orphans, retirees, special reserve police officers and persons involved in home construction are just some groups in society who will benefit from the country’s largest ever budget which Finance and Economy Minister Larry Howai presented in the House of Representatives yesterday.
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Court, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Labour, Law, Media, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Security, UNC

PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Statement on Proclaimation of Section 34

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September 20, 2012

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-BissessarMy fellow citizens, much has been commented and reported upon the Administration of Justice (Indictable Offences) Act 201 and the proclamation of Section 34. I chose to remain silent on the matter since any premature pronouncement could have been deemed injudicious and appear to influence the outcome of my own investigations and examination of the issue.
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Africa, China, Culture, General T&T, India, Labour, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Question of origins and Indian Indentureship: Updated

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
September 12, 2012

lettersIn the aftermath of the celebration of Indian Arrival Day on 30 May 2011 in T&T, this article focuses on certain origins and the historical dynamics of Indian Arrival. These origins include the Asian-Chinese Dynasty, “Ganges” river, Indian originality and the label “Indentured Servants.”
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Business, General T&T, Labour

God will not help the stupid

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By Raffique Shah
September 09, 2012

Raffique ShahAS ironical and comical as it may seem, the one word that drives the fear of God into the average Trini, is “gas”.

Yes, you read right—gas! I know the more enlightened in the country might think that Shah finally flipped his lid…he gone off. After all, if anything, for the sake of country, we need more gas.
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Africa, Business, Education, General T&T, India, Labour, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

No compensation for slaves

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By George Alleyne
August 29, 2012 – newsday.co.tt

EmancipationThe argument has often been put forward by politicians and would be politicians that persons of Indian descent own a far greater degree of property in Trinidad than people of African descent, because they had saved and used their money wisely.

It is an attempt to create misunderstanding between the two major ethnic groups. What led to today’s disparity in land ownership is well documented and rooted in Trinidad’s colonial past. The end of slavery in 1838 and the movement by freed slaves to urban and suburban areas and away from the sugar estates, with which they had for so long identified with their suffering, meant that the sugar planters had to source new labour.
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General T&T, Labour

Memories of another era

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By Raffique Shah
July 14, 2012

Raffique ShahLAST week, memories of another day, another time, another Trinidad and Tobago swirled through my mind. It happened over several days as many of us who grew up in the villages that make up what I call “Greater Freeport” gathered to pay our final respects to an elder, Boyd “Baykay” Roberts. Baykay was a contemporary of my long-deceased father Haniff, and a close friend of my deceased uncles, all of them sugar workers, ordinary people, barely literate, but wise in the ways of the world.
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General T&T, Labour, Parliament, People's Partnership, Politics, Security

Politics and Promotions in the Cabinet Re-Shuffle

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By Stephen Kangal
June 27, 2012

Stephen KangalThe Cabinet reshuffle, dubbed the new “pan- Cabinet”, would appear to be engineered, driven and tuned exclusively by the politics of consolidation, internal cohesiveness and ministerial promotion/demotion rather than enhancing performance in the post-MSJ era. It is a case of creating some over-lapping and ill-defined courses for horses while earning a six-month respite from the rising tide of adverse media reviews and infrastructural and labour discontent.
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General T&T, Labour, MSJ, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics

Learning from Ancel Roget’s Insights

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 26, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI don’t know Ancel Roget. I never met the brother until last Tuesday when I attended the Labor Day rally at Charlie King Junction in Fyzabad. I was impressed tremendously by his eloquence and force. His address was pitched directly to matters at hand and raised substantial questions. His address was stamped with his character and did much credit to the labor movement.
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General T&T, Labour, MSJ, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics

Yesterday, today, tomorrow

By Raffique Shah
June 23, 2012

Raffique ShahYESTERDAY, David Abdulah was a darling of the People’s Partnership. To hear it from the mare’s mouth, David worked tirelessly to forge a working relationship among disparate elements whose commonality was not so much the love for country or liberty as it was their hatred for Patrick Manning. Mark you, yesterday, even Patrick hated Manning for his uncontrollable appetite for wastage of a windfall that could have been used to bring a measure of social and economic equity to a nation mired in inequities.
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